Stability problems - need help

[Muerto]

I just put together a new machine for my bro. It's working fine except it crashes about 3-4 times a day. I've defraged his hard drive so I know that's not the problem. I've checked for loose cables and wires, didn't find any.

The heatsink sits squarely on the CPU. There are three 80mm cooling fans; one intake directly above the CPU, and two exhaust, one at the back and one in the top. I put Arctic Silver II on the CPU. The memory is Micron, not generic. Some possibilities I've thought of:

The motherboard is an Abit KT7A, is it defective? Abit's quality isn't quite perfect.

Could this be another case of the SBLive! 686B bug?

I don't have any other ideas, what do you guys think? Click here to see the specs on it. Thanks.

 

[Musicman6425]

I built almost the same system as yours. My problem was the motherboard. If me, the computer would reboot when it got the windows login screen. If all else fails, try swaping parts until you narrow it down.

 

[novalogic88]

POEPLE DONT GET ABIT, IWILL or EPOX, i have an abit my self so im a dumb piece of sh1t, get MSI or ASUS

 

[dowxp]

<< POEPLE DONT GET ABIT, IWILL or EPOX, i have an abit my self so im a dumb piece of sh1t, get MSI or ASUS >>




that did not help the poster at all. might as well tell you that all american cars suck and my souped up honda civic will eat your sorry dodge neon. =)

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what exactly is the crashing error? does it give one? win2k or win98?

 

[CrazyHelloDeli]

Yeah, Mobo for sure it sounds like. If its only like 3-4 times a day and it works ok using apps and stuff inbetween reboots, then it wouldnt be the RAM most likley. And im sure you done this already, but just to be sure reseat all cards and RAM and make sure cables are connected properly

 

[dowxp]

im almost sure its software. be he needs to be more specific. is it a random crash. if not, where when, whats the error, os, drivers, whatever..

 

[snidy]

I agree with Bangsailio, Get ASUS or MSI.
I had an ABIT, it was a piece of crap, I just gave it to my kids to play with, so at least I got some use out of it.

 

[dowxp]

<< I agree with Bangsailio, Get ASUS or MSI.
I had an ABIT, it was a piece of crap, I just gave it to my kids to play with, so at least I got some use out of it. >>



i didnt write that comment. i was quoting. but thanks. i dont like abit ethier anyways.

 

[andalas]

You can't just brand all EPOX bad and MSI good.

EPOX 8K7A is a very good and stable board but MSI K7 Master have a very high
RMA, some people needs to return 4 board before getting a &quot;working&quot; one and it's
actually very good board and stable once it works.
----

Anyway, you could win2k event viewer and look if any error are generated
for your machine.

It is likely that the mobo is defective.

 

[Muerto]

Thanks everyone for you input.

I actually didn't choose the hardware. My bro chose most of it including the motherboard. I suggested an ASUS or MSI but he wouldn't listen. I didn't make a big deal of it since Abit's quality has improved and &quot;most&quot; of their boards are good, but there's still quite a few that aren't.

Most of the crashes have happened when playing games. Once it reset for no reason while he was on the net. He just clicked on the link and it rebooted.

Most of you guys seem to think it's the motherboard and that's what I've been thinking as well. I've tried swapping a few components since I posted this thread and it hasn't helped.

Thanks again. If anyone else has any other ideas let's have 'em.

 

[Muerto]

No error messages comes with any of the crashes. The computer just locks up completely. The crashes are completely random.

It happens in both Win98 and 2K. I've re-seated the RAM and checked for loose cables. I made sure that the most recent drivers are installed for everything.

 

[TunaBoo]

Run prime95. You can get it at hardocp.com - files - cool stuff (and other places).

Do a self test, let it run 10 hours. If it reports an error it is hardware. If it does not yet the comp keeps crashing it is software (windows).


Also, you never mentioned your CPU temp, what does the bios report it at? Did you maybe set the ram timing too aggrezzively, that can cause this problem also. Also, a weak PSU can do this. A 1.4 GHz machine likes a 300 or 350 watt PSY (Not sure speed of your proc).

 

[warmachine]

Ok some one else has this prob I have three of these 1 unstable I tryed everything to get it to run stable no luck was going to rma it but it ended up just sitting on shelf at home about three weeks ago I wanted to set up cs sever so I set up this board 650 dur and OS of choice for cs of course linux. guess what no probs at all took awhile dont know linux at all but got it working and not one crash. this is what I tried to stop it from locking up switched every pice of hardware with the other two ps, mem hd, vid, nic, floppy, cpu, the only thing I didnt try was bios flash the sys used to lockup while surfing in IE no games office comp. I allso read somthing about instability with these boards U eather got it or U dont sucks huh. but it runs goood with LINUX

 

[Muerto]

TunaBoo

I've left the RAM timings at default. The PSU is an Antec 300W. The kind that comes with the SX1030 (can't remember the model).

The CPU temp I forgot to mention, I think the CPU temp sensor on the motherboard is f*cked. It says it's at 40C. My Duron is currently running hotter than that. There's no way in hell that a 1.1GHz Athlon would run that cool at 100% load (RC5), especially with a generic HSF. The case temp is at 30C which is reasonable but the CPU temp isn't.

Prime95 is a good idea. I'll download it and let it run overnight. Thanks.

warmachine

Yeah Linux is pretty sweet when it comes to stability. It might even run stable on my bro's board. I guess Windows is one of the best tests of hardware stability.

 

[warmachine]

One more little note I allso put the drive from unstable comp in to one of the others it is still there ruing just didnt reload just stuk it in. something fishy with these boards

 

[RC7]

Bangsalio... heh japanese cars arent the greatest either. Gotta go european. BMW M3 baby.